Fundamentals of Childhood 101
by virginiagirl101
Summary: Doreen Winger and Carol Edison have known each other their whole lives. Or, Jeff and Annie grow up together. Based off of a prompt where Jeff and Annie knew each other before the series. Part 1 in my Alternate Timelines verse. Rating just to be safe.


**Author's Note: Hi everyone! I'm new to the **_**Community**_** fandom, and this is my first fic for it, so please go easy on me! I've been checking out the milady milord livejournal page, and there was a prompt on there from a while back for a fic where Jeff and Annie knew each other before the study group, and this is what came to mind. I'm going to do a series of connected one shots, and this will be the first. I've only really seen Season 1, but I'm knowledgeable about the others—this still will be a bit AU after season one, even though this fic takes place before season one. I got all my info about ages and the names of Jeff's parents from the community wiki—in this fic, Annie is born in 1990 and Jeff is born in 1978, so there is a 12 year age gap between them. Please let me know what you think—reviews are awesome! Also, this is unbeta'd, as I'm the only person I know who watches this show.**

**Summary: Doreen Winger and Carol Edison have known each other their whole lives. **

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nothing at all. Sadly.**_

_Fundamentals of Childhood 101_

Doreen Winger and Carol Edison have known each other their whole lives, back when they were still known as Doreen Fitzgerald and Carol Dawson, and they were little Kindergarteners whose main goal in life was to play house and avoid naptime. They meet on the first day of class and bond over the fact that the color purple is in fact the best color around, no question about it. When they get home and are asked how school was, they both inform their parents that they had met their best friend forever that day—Doreen in a slightly dreamy tone, Carol in a matter of fact, no nonsense voice. Their parents smile at them, but everyone is unaware of just how true those words are. (In another universe, Carol moves into a house down the street, they go to different schools, and don't meet until High School, when it's already too late. The world starts to spin around this new timeline.)

They remain best friends throughout their school years, and even though they have a few fights—mostly about which boy is cuter—they always come back to each other. Even at this early age their personalities are coming through—Doreen is a dreamer, has a crush on a different boy each week, and doesn't really care about school or the future. Carol is realistic, thinks boys are too immature, is a straight A student, and wants to be a business woman. In spite of the differences, they still sleep over at each other's houses on weekends, and they still are always partners.

When they reach Middle School, Doreen starts . . . developing . . . first. Suddenly the boys are noticing her back, and she spends a lot of time giggling against a locker at dumb jokes. She gets a B average usually, and As when she tries (she is smart, she's just not driven). Carol joins every club she can, is president of the student body, and still manages to be a straight A student. In spite of their different life styles, they are still best friends—they ride home on the bus to each other's houses, eat with each other at lunch, and hang out at each other's locker to complain (Joey was totally into me, but then she stole him . . . yeah, well I have about fifty pages of essay to write for extra credit.)

In High School, they both come into their own. Carol takes advanced classes, joins about every extracurricular she can, volunteers in the community, and is student body president. When she graduates, she has a 4.0, is a valedictorian, and is elected most likely to succeed. Doreen becomes a social butterfly, is one of the most popular girls in school, and starts making out against lockers instead of leaning against them. She has three steady boyfriends and flirts with every guy she sees. She still manages a B average without even trying, but she has better things to worry about than school. The two girls are extremely close, talking on the phone every day after school, and when Carol gets her first B and Doreen's boyfriend breaks up with her, it's each other they come crying to.

Carol goes off to a very impressive college, where she meets David Edison in her mandatory Biology class. They form a close friendship, and then they start dating. Although they're not passionately in love, they like each other, they both agree that their career should come first, and they both want to wait until they've come into their own to have children. He takes her to Spring Formal, and they kiss each other goodnight, and Carol might not have butterflies, but those don't really exist—he fits into her plan, and that's good enough.

Doreen goes to a local college, where she is getting her Bachelor's in . . . something, she doesn't really know what yet. While there, she meets William Winger when he rides up on a motorbike. There is an immediate attraction, and even though she knows he's bad news, she can't help but blush when he smiles or winks at her, and there are DEFINITELY butterflies. They start dating, and soon she's spending her evenings in the back of his car, or over at his place. (Throughout this all, what with the distance and such, the girls kind of slip away from each other—they still care, and they write, but Carol's college has one phone, and they're both busy.)

They are nineteen when Doreen realizes she is late. She immediately calls the one phone on Carol's campus, and Carol, in spite of the fact that finals just finished and she has extra credit to turn in immediately flies back two days early. They are both in Doreen's bedroom when the test comes back as positive, and they both cry.

Doreen is nervous about telling William, and it seems her fears are proven true when he storms out and is later spotted at a bar. A week later, which she spends crying and Carol comforts her, he comes back with a ring, and she says yes. The wedding takes place three months later. Carol is the maid of honor, Doreen wears white, and everyone at least pretends to be surprised when they announce the "Honeymoon baby".

Doreen and Carol are twenty when Jeffrey Winger is born. Due to the fact that men are banned from the delivery room, Carol is the only one allowed in. Jeff looks like his mom with a bit of his dad, and everyone proclaims him to be "too cute".

Doreen spends the next three years simultaneously going to school and being a mom. She eventually becomes a secretary, and is darn good at her job, thank you very much. Carol graduates with a BA in business, and goes to school for two more years to get her masters. David, whom she has been dating this whole time and LIKES, okay, proposes at graduation and they agree to wait to be married until their lives are more stable. (Jeff spends the first five years of his life in a relatively stable home, even if his Dad drinks a lot and his parents fight a lot. He calls Carol "Aunt Carol" and David "Uncle David", and is already using his eyes and words to get him what he wants when he wants it. His mother feels guilty, so she spoils him, and he ends up spending a lot of nights and his Aunt's when his parents are fighting.)

The next year Doreen does really well at work, and really bad at home. It feels like she and William are fighting all the time. He's always drunk, she's always tired, and Jeff usually gets stuck in the middle, or at Carol's house. Carol is always willing to take him—its good practice for her own future kids, and Jeff is pretty good about behaving. Carol's job is going pretty well—she's been appointed leader of her own project group, which means that she's moving up on the ladder, and David has finished med school and is starting his internship, which means he'll be getting paid in a few years, and they can get married. It's on the day that she is told she'll be leading a huge project that Doreen calls.

Jeff had been wanting to go to the zoo, and since Doreen was always working and William had the day off, she had told William to take him. However, William had taken him into the butterfly exhibit, waited until he was distracted, and left. He'd called Doreen two hours later, drunk, and told her it was over and she could keep the kid—he was leaving. She'd called the zoo, and they'd found Jeff, and Carol was close, so was there anyway she could pick him up?

Carol picked up the six year old, who was doing his best not to cry. She took him out to ice cream, and it was obvious he knew what was going on. She told him he was a good boy, that it wasn't his fault, and that his dad was an idiot. She could tell he didn't really believe her. When she dropped him off, he ran into his mom's arms and started crying. (That day, Jeff swore that he would never let anyone get close enough to hurt him again.)

Two years later, David had finished his internship, so at the age of 28, they had their wedding. Carol had taken the last year of his internship to plan it. Her dress was a traditional white, Doreen was her maid of honor, Jeff was the adorable ring bearer, and he actually managed to stand still for most of the ceremony.

Three years later, everything changes again. Carol and David are both very successful, and content in their careers. Everything is all set, so they decide it is time to have a family. Jeff, who has spent the past three years being coddled by his "aunt and uncle" takes the news pretty well—he's 11 now, and smart, and charming, and the girls blush when he smiles at them, so the way he sees it, the new baby won't take anything from him (and even if it would, he doesn't care, okay, so stop pestering him, he's fine.)

The baby—Annie—is born a week before Christmas. Jeff is 12, and is therefore allowed to stay in the waiting room with David while his aunt gives birth to her. It's kind of boring, but he's not gonna complain, because he's not a baby, okay? Later on, when little Annie Edison is put in his arms for him to hold her, he may kinda sorta melt. And maybe he decides then and there that nothing is ever gonna hurt her, but come on, she's a baby—she's adorable. It doesn't make him any less manly. (The wheels of fate slowly start turning.)

Jeff spends the next few years working on his charm. He graduates from making girls blush to making out with them, and his grades may not be perfect, but they're not awful either. He fully perfects his devil-may-care attitude, and his ability to deal with women, and there are only two people in the world who could maybe, possibly, break past that image, okay?! (There is a picture of a 15 year old him playing dress up with 3 year old Annie. He keeps it on his desk, because she's one of the two.)

Annie spends the next decade or so concentrating on school. Her mother makes sure she gets her schoolwork done as soon as she gets home from school, that she is as involved in as many extracurricular activities as possible (she's doing Gymnastics, dance, AND is taking piano lessons), and makes it clear that school and success comes before friends and fun. Annie doesn't really mind, since she doesn't really have any friends—all the kids think she's weird because she can read at three grade levels higher than them. Also, she has Jeff, who comes to hang out with her at least three times a week when she's done with her homework.

After High School, Jeff goes to college, where he spends more time at parties and with girls than he does studying, because school is not on the list of things he wants to do. As a result, he gets kicked out because of his bad GPA at the end of the year. He stays in the area, getting a job as a phone salesman for about six months and still partying, until his senior friend is taking the LSAT, and Jeff tries for fun, and does really well, and hey . . . he could be a lawyer. So he spends way too much on a fake degree (who really NEEDS a degree, anyway), and he goes to Law School and graduates at the top of his class, and he becomes a lawyer when he's 26 and everyone is proud, and pretty soon he's winning cases and women, so his life rocks. (Throughout this entire period of his life, he makes sure to keep in contact with Annie—every Saturday at 3 p.m. she calls, he answers, and they spend a few hours talking about the futility of life, or how stupid assignments/people are, and how awesome they are. After she gets off the phone he talks to his mom for about five minutes to reiterate how school is going so well, and he's got a huge project due, sorry.)

When Annie is 11, one of her teachers notices she is pretty smart, and knows all of the material already, so she gets tested, and then she gets moved up a grade level, and her mom throws her a party and tells her how proud she is, and her dad is actually smiling. It is that day that Annie really starts to understand that she can gain her parents' affection with good grades and school, so she stops doing everything that won't look good on a college transcript (which is sad, because she enjoyed gymnastics, and ballet is fun but so are the other types of dances) and starts focusing on her educational career, joining a multitude of academic clubs. It is around this time that she starts to become really unpopular, leaving behind the handful of friends she had, and joining a grade where everyone hates her. She is automatically the butt of everyone's jokes, and it sucks, but friends detract from school and at least she has a 4.0. (It is around this time that she starts spending more time at her Aunt Doreen's house, who provides her with emotional support and advice about people. She also starts hanging onto her conversations with Jeff—who is widely regarded as 'cool'—as if they are a lifeline.)

When Annie is 13 her parents start arguing more and more. This makes it very uncomfortable to be in her house, and to concentrate on her schoolwork, or sleep, and her grades start to slip. Her mother notices, and yells at her, but is strangely understanding. They come up with a deal, and that is how Annie ends up practically living at Doreen Winger's house the year she is 14. The guest room becomes her room, and Doreen makes her stop studying one weekend to pick out decorations, pillows, a desk, and bed sheets, so she feels more at home. She learns how to cook, how to do her own laundry, and what it feels like to breathe a little easier. When she stays at home occasionally or talks to her parents, they both tell her everything is working out, and she breathes a little easier, and tells everyone who asks that it is just temporary until her parents work it out.

Jeff remains relatively oblivious to all of this until he comes home for Christmas to find Annie there, spread out on the couch as if she owned it, possessions all around her. He immediately feels guilty and takes her out for ice cream, where they talk about what's going on with her parents, and why she didn't feel the need to tell him this on the phone, and he reminds her that he actually cares. Later on, on the couch they watch _Christmas Vacation_, and she may or may not start crying. (Later on, Jeff will pinpoint this event as the moment that he stopped being aware of every aspect of Annie's life. At the time, he's a little angry at himself but blames it on his new job and assures himself it is a onetime thing. Later, he will kick himself.)

The next year, Jeff and Annie are both blindsided when Carol and David get a divorce. They are both open about how they never really loved each other, and how it wasn't anyone's fault, they just couldn't be together anymore without arguing. David sticks around for about a month before writing Annie a check that should cover half her college tuition and leaving, ceasing contact with everyone involved in his former life.

Jeff responds to this by throwing himself into his job. David has been the only real father figure he's known since he was six, and now he's gone, without a word to him. David had taught Jeff everything he knew about a lot of things in life—he had helped with his homework, been a safe haven to talk to about anything. David had taught him what he knew about girls, had taught him when to fight and when to walk away, had taught him how to spend his money wisely—and now he was gone, without a word. Also, he really wants to make Partner sometime soon, so he's been picking up more cases, and his cases have been getting bigger, with more coverage, so really, he's busy. He talks to his mom about once a month now (and he doesn't notice how his contact with Annie has slowly teetered off).

Annie responds to this by having a mild breakdown and being unable to concentrate, resulting in her almost failing English. Her mother responds to this by deciding Annie really should move back in with her, and concentrate on her schoolwork so she can get her grade back up. So, Annie spends less and less time with Doreen, and more and more time alone in her house doing her homework. Her mother also provides her with a bottle of Adderall to help her focus, telling her that she trusts her to keep the dosage, and to let her know when she needs more. As Annie gets more and more involved in school, and takes the pills more and more, she talks to Jeff, who is busy, less and less, so that by the end of the year, they aren't talking at all.

Over the summer, Jeff doesn't come to visit at all. He doesn't think about Riverside at all. All he thinks about is the huge court case he is working on with Alan, and how if he wins it, he will get a promotion. And a raise. And he'll finally be able to afford those Italian faucets he's been looking at for a while now. So, life is good. And maybe he hasn't talked to Annie in a while, but it's summer, so how bad could it be?

Annie spends the summer working at a Day camp as a counselor in charge of art. It is there she meets Andy, who is cute and nice. She also meets Troy Barnes, who is a total jerk, but he's Riverside's star football player, and he's hot, so she develops a huge crush on him, and spends the rest of the summer giggling with Andy and trying to catch Troy's attention. Somehow, at the end of the summer, she's kissing Andy instead of Troy. (She cuts back on how much Adderall she takes, which makes her extremely proud of herself.)

That Fall, Doreen decides to move out of her house and into a condo about an hour away. The way she sees it, Annie doesn't really come over anyway, and Jeff is never home, so the house is too big for one person living alone. Annie helps her pack up her things and load up the moving van, and spends about an hour crying goodbye. Caroline is busy working, but Andy comes and helps with the heavy lifting. Doreen promises Annie that if she ever needs anything, she's still just a phone call away.

Jeff comes out and helps his mom move. It's the first time he's been back in about a year, and Holy Crap Annie has gotten tall—finally hit her growth spurt. She also has a boyfriend. Jeff isn't really bothered by this—really, he's not—but both of their mother's want him to make it clear to the boy that if ANYTHING happens, he will regret it. Upon meeting him, however, Jeff snorts, because NOTHING untoward is going to happen between Annie and that boy. He promises to call more, and then he and his mom leave. (This is September. It will be 7 months before either Winger hear from Annie.)

Annie does well dealing with everything for about a month. But then she has 3 papers and 2 tests on the same day, and having a boyfriend means she has to take time away from homework to socialize. So she ups the dose on her Adderall, just this once. She tells herself it's just for an emergency. It's not. By January, her mom is becoming suspicious. By February, she has found a dealer at High School, to ease her mother's worries. She's always hyped up, which is good for school, but bad for normal everyday life. In order to wind down, she decides to seduce Andy. They do it in his closet, and afterwards he announces he's gay. A week later, she has a test, paper, or project due in every class she's in, and during lunch, she takes 3 pills, dry. In retrospect, the ensuing breakdown is something she should have seen coming.

Jeff spends the next few months quietly freaking out. He's about to make partner, which is huge, but it also means that his workload has doubled because he's being tested. Also, he heard rumors that the higher ups have started double checking everyone's background, which is kind of freaky because _hello, fake degree_, and yeah. It's March when he realizes he hasn't talked to Annie in a while—they didn't even get together for a Winter Holiday because he couldn't make the annual party—and he almost calls her to see how things are going, but hey no news is good news, right. (Yeah, he kicks himself later. A lot.)

After her breakdown, Annie's mother quickly checks her out of the hospital, and tries to arrange for her to get back to school. Whenever anyone mentions rehab, her mother makes it clear that it is not an option, and Annie has no choice but to go through with her decisions. It isn't until she's in the bathroom connected to her room, shaking and needing just one more, that she realizes how bad off she is, and she checks herself into rehab the next day using the money her Dad gave her and occasionally still sends her to pay for it. (The only response her mother has to this is to tell her not to bother coming back home.)

In April, Jeff gets a call from his mother. She asks if he's heard from Annie, and he tells her the truth. She echoes this, adding that when she called Carol, she hadn't mentioned anything about her. Jeff offers to call Annie, and Doreen agrees. He calls Annie's cell and it goes straight to voicemail. He emails her, and when she hasn't responded 3 days later, he starts doing research, calling old friends who still live in the area. When he finds out—drug overdose, hallucinations, breakdown, rehab—his mind goes blank, he feels nauseous, and he has to sit down out of shock. How had he not known? How had anyone not known? Annie was awesome, but fairly predictable, how had anyone failed to notice? He thinks about how he hasn't called her in a while—how she hadn't even tried to contact him. He should have known something was wrong. He should have realized, for Pete's sake. Annie never ignored him. He calls his mother and tells her what happened. He calls the rehab place and makes an appointment to meet with Annie. Then he tries to drink away the feelings of guilt.

Three days later, Annie is nervously sitting in the visitor's room, waiting for the Winger's to show up. She doesn't know how to face them. She doesn't want to face them, but they are the first people to show any interest or care for her outside of the rehab center in a month, and she's never been able to say no to them. Her therapist informed her it was ok to not want to see them, to not feel ready, but Annie doesn't want to send away the only people that care about her. A deep breath, and Doreen comes in, because only one of them is allowed in at a time. She has a look of worry on her face, and Annie finds herself pulled immediately into a hug, before Doreen pulls away to look at her.

"Well, you aren't looking horrible, but you have definitely looked better." And with that, the silence is broken, and Annie is having the first enjoyable conversation she's had in over a month. After Doreen assures her that she is always welcome at her home, that she considers Annie to be the daughter she never had, that Carol is an idiot for caring more about looks than her, and that Doreen is sorry she didn't see this coming, it's Annie's turn to talk. She assure Doreen that she is fine, that rehab is helping, that she purposely made sure no one who cared would notice, and that of course if she needs anything she'll ask. Doreen smiles at her, tells her she'll visit soon, and leaves.

Jeff spends the entire time his mom is in with Annie freaking out. What if she hates him? What if she tells him to get out? What if . . . wait. He is not a teenage boy with a crush. This is Annie. He was there when she was born. It's going to be fine. When his mom comes out, she's crying. Then it's his turn.

When he enters the room, he takes a second to just stare. Annie's hair has been cut short, so it comes down just to her chin. She's wearing loose white clothing that look like pajamas. Her big blue eyes are looking at him as if he has the power to break or make her. He really can't stop himself from hugging her.

"Hell, kid, what have you gotten yourself into?"

"Rehab."

After a few minutes, she pulls back, and he lets his hands rest on her hips. "You okay?"

"I'm going to be."

And he leaves it at that.

Annie spends a year at rehab. In that time, she gets over her Adderall addiction. She also gets her GED, finds an apartment (it may be crappy, but still . . .), gets a job, and learns how to live in the real world. Doreen visits every week, and Jeff calls once a month. Right before she's about to get out, she sends out applications to all the schools she was going to apply to before. She gets rejected from every single one. She ends up applying to the community college, and is accepted automatically—she'll do one year there, and transfer out. She finds out via Facebook that Troy is also going, and decides to take his Spanish class. And his Astronomy class. And his English class. (Hey, every dream she had in High School is gone, she can at least hold onto this one.) She also doesn't tell Jeff or Carol, letting them think she's going be taking online classes at some fancy college, letting them think that her fall wasn't that bad. They both think she can pretty much do no wrong, and she can't bear to disappoint them.

Jeff spends the next year working and worrying. The competition for partner is down to him and Alan, and he is going to kick Alan's ass if he has anything to say about it. He worries about Annie and how she's doing in rehab. He worries about his mom, and how she's coping with Annie in rehab. (Carol and Doreen are in the midst of the longest fight of their lives, and he also worries about the outcome of that fight on his mother.) He has, surprisingly, stopped worrying about being discovered.

Which is, of course, when it all comes crashing down. He's called to the office, and he's pretty sure he's going to be made partner. He can almost taste the celebratory Scotch. Ted immediately nixes that notion, telling him that he is, in fact, being disbarred, until he can provide them with an Undergraduate Degree.

He doesn't tell his mother or Annie, both of whom would be so disappointed in them. Neither of them know his undergrad degree is fake, and he'd very much like to keep it that way. He can do this . . . 3, 4 years tops and he'll be finished. He applies to Greendale Community College, because he defended one of their teachers, and hey, it can't hurt to have connections.

(The universe finishes aligning itself, and looks proudly at the new timeline which has been created.)

**END AN: Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed it! It kind of focused more on Annie, but that's because I know more about her early life than Jeff's . . . his history is kind of a mystery. I'm going to be doing one of these per episode, so keep tuned for episode one! OH, and please review guys. Please, please, review.**


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